Erik-Jan Bos – EGI Technical Forum 2010

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – September 15, 2010

National R&E Networks: Engines for innovation in research

Erik-Jan Bos

- Chief Technology Officer at Dutch NREN SURFnet

- Member of the Executive Committee of the FP7

Project GN3

- Co-chair of the Technical Working Group of GLIF,

the Global Lambda Integrated Facility

The opinions in this presentation are mine, andnot necessarily those of one or more of the bodiesmentioned above.

1

E-Infrastructures users today experience…

- Many separate components of the e-Infrastructure:

- Computing

- Storage & Data Management

- Networks

- Identity management systems & solutions

- Tools and applications

- Scientific instruments

- Components that are not aligned and do not

interoperate well today

2

E-Infrastructure Vision

- Researchers can work together simply and

efficiently by seamlessly linking all kinds of e-

Infrastructure services

- The development of new applications for the e-

Infrastructure is stimulated

- Middleware enables the usability of these e-

Infrastructure services in a user-friendly way

- Bandwidth, for IP & Lightpaths, does not need to be

scarce

3

Some observations:User perspective

- More and more data-centered

- Research within virtual organisations

- Research is a global activity

- Clouds and cloud services are coming towards us

fast, fuelling the discussion “build or buy”

- Open Access

- Facilities shared and linked by ICT

4

Some observations: Provider perspective

- Requirements ahead of general needs and markets

- High demands coming from ICT-competent users

- Growing set of demands coming from researchers

without ICT knowledge

- Huge amount of ICT-service offerings outside of the

institutes

5

Hence…

• It’s about services and their integration

• Close collaboration with users and e-Infrastructure

providers is urgently needed

• Coordination between domains on a worldwide

scale should be our focus

• Open innovation is KEY

6

7

E-Infrastructure is global

- Environment is inherently multi-domain

- Each domain is progressing at its own pace

- Federated services

- Open standards

- (Re-)using best current practices

- Users and providers together need to work on

finding and walking on an optimal path forward:

- Nurture domains and grow them strong

- Avoiding lowest common denominators

Nordic situation

- NORDUnet & Nordic DataGrid Facility

8

Dutch situation

- ICTRegie Report

- SURFnet: Owned by and working

for the users in R & HE in NL: On

the demand side of the market

9

Open Innovation is KEY

- The power of collaboration, with users and with

peers worldwide

- Select the most appropriate way for achieving

results:

- Basic services (core package)

- Temporary services and showcases

- Collaborate, challenge, and share knowledge

- Challenge talented people and organisations

10

New research -> new ICT requirements

- Explosion in the amount of data from experiments

and simulations

- Examples: LHC, LOFAR, e-VLBI

- Need for near real-time processing of very large

datasets

- Example: LHC Atlas trigger

- Increase in remote collaboration:

- Distributed sensors

- Shared computing and storage grids

- Virtual teams, virtual organisations

- Accessing cloud services in a seamless way

11

Example: distributed low frequency array LOFAR

- A distributed multibeam array for radioastronomy

- Large number of very simple antennas, with very

high bandwidth connections

12

Example: e-VLBI, a global radiotelescope

13

Example: LHC Computing Grid and LHCOPN

The Case for NRENs

- NRENs are special, providing

advanced services to (H)E&R

- Spill-over of results into

commercial sector of country

- Country should cherish the NREN

- Can lead to large advances in

knowledge economy of country

http://www.terena.org/publications/files/20090127-case-for-nrens.pdf15

Areas to work on

Hybrid end-to-end network

The basis for all collaboration, providing efficient,

unlimited data transport.

Trusted identity

offering secure and seamless access to all the electronic

materials and facilities that researchers, instructors,

and students need.

Pioneering collaboration environment

that reaches beyond existing boundaries and that

seamlessly integrates the services and tools

provided by a large number of suppliers.

16

Hybrid end-to-end network in NL

- 11.000+ km dark fiber,

into connected

organisations

- Own photonic network

- Network Services:

- IPv4 and IPv6

- Fixed and dynamic Lightpaths

- Collapsed IP backbone with

routers at only 2 locations

17

NREN Dark Fibers - 2009

Source: TERENA Compendium 200918

The GÉANT Network

19

Hybrid end-to-end network: Lightpaths

- Dark Fiber is the basis for building research

infrastructures

- Lambdas form the building block for high capacity

research networks

- Lightpaths are full lambdas or a dedicated part, for

end-to-end, high bandwidth data transport with fixed

characteristics

- Fixed lightpath: always on

- Dynamic lightpath: under control of users and their

applications

20

Federated Multi-Domain Networking

NSI-C

AUTOBAHN

NSI-A

DRACNSI-B

OSCARS

21

Global Lambda Integrated Facility

22

Resources in GLIF

- Lambdas

- GOLEs (GLIF Open Lightpath Exchanges)

- GOLEs form a crucial part of the emerged and

growing global lambda grid:

- Open = Policy Free

- Exchange = Cross-connect your lightpaths

23

Vision: Linking the World with Light

NetherLight: The GOLE in Amsterdam

24

Federated Identity Management

Trusted identity

offering secure and seamless access to all the electronic

materials and facilities that researchers, instructors,

and students need.

- Interconnect Service Providers and Identity Providers

in a scalable and flexible way for SSO and ZSO

- Challenges ahead are to expand the functionality of

Identity Federations for:

- the pioneering collaboration environment

- greater control of privacy by the end user

- scalable support for use/guest use

- multi-domain through inter-/confederations

25

SURFfederatie Functional View

CentralFederation

Components

A-Select Cross

A-Select Cross

Shibboleth

SAML 2.0

WS-Fed / ADFS

SAML 2.0

WS-Fed / ADFS

Identity Providers

Service ProvidersSURFfederatie CORE

ApplicationsCredentials

#59 #45

#700,000

26

Certificates for Grids, possibilities to explore

- NREN (TERENA) server certificate service to identify

Web/SSL servers and service endpoints

- NREN federation infrastructure and trust available

to obtain certificates for grid access

- Machine-to-machine Web Services (SOAP/REST)

access through delegated (person) authentication

- From legacy SSL/PKI based transport to WS-

Trust/Oauth 2.0 calls

- Short-lived tokens for offline jobs

27

Online Collaboration

Pioneering collaboration environment

that reaches beyond existing boundaries and that

seamlessly integrates the services and tools

provided by a large number of suppliers.

28

Three generations of collaboration tools

- 1. Stand alone applications:

- Like ships in the night

- 2. Applications connected to Federated Identity

Management infrastructures:

- Uniform method for AuthN and AuthZ

- Still much unaware of each other

- 3. Applications aware of each other:

- Access through Federated IdM infrastructures

- Group functionality as the basis -> VOs

- Ability to share data between apps

29

Gen 1 collaboration tool

File Sharing App

30

Gen 2 collaboration tool

31

Adding federated Identity Management

32

Collaboration Infrastructure

33

Collaboration Infrastructure

- CoIn is a blend, a synergy between:

- Federated IdM and Group middleware

- Social Networking

- Collaboration Tools

34

Conclusions

- The demands from scientific research users are still

ahead of what the market can provide

- The integration of Computing, Storage, Networks,

Identity Management, Collaborations Tools and

Scientific Instruments is the true next paradigm shift

- Clouds and cloud services will become an integral part

of research networks

- Close collaboration between users and e-

Infrastructure providers is essential to realize the true

Collaboration Infrastructure

35

Thank you! Questions?

10th Global LambdaGrid Workshop:

- CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

- 13-14 October 2010

- Hosted by: CERN

- Program and details at:

http://www.glif.is/meetings/2010/

36

E: erik-jan.bos@surfnet.nlT: +31 30 2305305